The Northwest Power and Conservation Council approved Wednesday morning its 20-year outlook for the Northwest power supply, minus an analysis of the impacts of breaching the lower Snake River dams. An hour later the Council, however, voted unanimously for its staff to develop a work plan on how it will analyze the power implications of breaching, a move many commenters on the draft power plan had requested.
Whether the lower Snake River dams should be breached to revive flagging wild salmon and steelhead runs is certainly a top regional issue. And what the impacts would be to the Northwest power supply is a key factor in the breach/no breach debate.
An annual salmon survival study by the Fish Passage Center says increasing smolt-to-adult returns to recovery levels for Snake River salmon and steelhead will require breaching the Lower Snake River dams and increasing spill at lower Columbia River dams.
On a map, the heart of Idaho is the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, and its nearly two million-acre watershed. This is a big, wild heart.
One week after Washington Gov. Jay Inslee released a package of salmon recovery strategies that includes proposed funding for a study of the impacts of removing the four Lower Snake dams, Northwest RiverPartners released the results of commissioned poll showing nearly 60 percent of respondents opposed dam breaching.
More than one-third of the public comments on its draft Power Plan received by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council had to do with whether it got it right on the four lower Snake River dams.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee this week said he is seeking $187 million during the 2022 legislative session for salmon recovery strategies, including funds for studying the impacts of breaching the four Lower Snake River dams.
Where are we today, closing days of the year, with management of Columbia River Basin salmon recovery?
The four Northwest state representatives leading the Columbia Basin Collaborative told a new group it recently formed that it should not consider breaching lower Snake River dams as a way to recover salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin, nor should it consider reintroducing fish into areas blocked by dams until other forums already looking at those topics complete their work next year.
